OSF Ventures Taps into Silicon Valley to Discover Health Care Solutions
Partnership connects OSF HealthCare to the best health digital startups in the world
OSF Ventures, the corporate investment arm of OSF HealthCare, is partnering with Plug and Play, the world’s largest start-up platform headquartered in Silicon Valley that connects startups to corporations and invests in more than 100 companies a year.
OSF Ventures recently signed a three-year agreement to be a corporate sponsor of Plug and Play’s program for Health and Wellness to help identify progressive technologies that could benefit the health care industry.
OSF is the second health care system to partner with this program and will join a handful of other sponsors to define health care needs that could be filled through innovative technology. Plug and Play then invites startups from all over the world to apply for its 12-week industry-specific innovation platform that includes potential investment, working space and mentorship to further develop their companies.
Sponsors help select startups to go through the health and wellness program and stay connected to them throughout the process.
“Our sponsorship of Plug and Play’s Health and Wellness program nets OSF direct access to the best health digital startups in the world, the ability to mentor those companies, decide which of those would be useful to our Ministry, partner with them collaboratively and ultimately be a venture investment candidate,” said Stan Lynall, Vice President of Ventures Investments for OSF Ventures.
The program ends with the graduation of the selected companies where they are better positioned to grow and seek venture investment support.
Plug and Play’s track record speaks for itself. The many successful companies that have participated in its startup innovation platforms have moved on to start their second and third enterprises that are again tapping into Plug and Play to quickly increase growth. That’s why we believe our relationship with Plug and Play will be valuable to the innovation and ventures strategies at OSF.
PayPal, Dropbox, Soundhound and Lending Club are among the many companies that are part of Plug and Play’s portfolio.
“We are excited to have OSF HealthCare join our Health Innovation Platform. Our relationship will help create a bridge between Silicon Valley and Peoria, IL for our health startups and we look forward to working together to foster health innovation,” says Saeed Amidi, Founder and CEO of Plug and Play.